Key developments
- Use of AI in the Federal Court
- Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2025
- Sunsetting of the National Redress Scheme
Use of AI in the Federal Court
The Litigation Law and Practice, Privacy and Data Law, Business Law, and Ethics Committees made a submission to the Law Council of Australia ahead of the Federal Court’s consultation on the development of guidelines or a practice note about the use of generative AI (‘Gen AI’) by practitioners and court users.
Our submission expressed support for the development of Federal Court guidelines or a practice note. We noted that, while practitioners hold varying views on the level of prescription that should be adopted, they generally favour a hybrid model based on overarching guiding principles with mechanisms for disclosure of Gen AI use in certain limited circumstances. The submission also highlighted that a principles-based guidance or practice note could be aligned with existing professional and ethical obligations—as outlined in the statement on the use of AI in Australian legal practice, jointly issued by the Law Society of NSW, the Legal Practice Board of WA, and the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner. The incorporation of transparency safeguards through disclosure also acknowledges the understandable uncertainty surrounding Gen AI which is often seen as inherently unreliable.
